“I’m always asking God for divine appointments and connections,” said Tina Fauble, the unwitting founder of a ministry called Sew 2 Sow. That’s the only explanation for how her desire to teach kids to sew blossomed into an international effort to clothe and equip orphans around the world.
Since 2018, Fauble and her handful of dedicated volunteers have made about 2,000 items of clothing for Haven of Hope International and other ministry organizations, including a Venezuelan refugee camp in Colombia. In October, she traveled to Haven of Hope Bolivia with donated sewing machines and supplies to lead a workshop on turning gently used T-shirts into fun and functional girls’ dresses.
It all started with Fauble’s desire to teach children the lost art of sewing.
“Back in my day, we had home economics, and I took sewing all four years in high school,” she said. “I’ve always had a love of sewing.”
A few years back, Fauble, a bank auditor, mentioned her self-supported, kids’ sewing lessons to a guest of the bed-and-breakfast she owns with her husband in Quincy, Florida — a Queen Anne Victorian home they bought 31 years ago and renovated themselves. The guest connected Fauble to a woman in Alabama who stitches festive dresses out of oversized T-shirts; Fauble soon traveled there to learn the model.
A second “divine connection” occurred the following year when another guest at the inn told Fauble about Haven of Hope International and introduced her to its founder, Alice Sweet.
“I don’t mention my sewing to every guest that I’m serving breakfast to,” Fauble said. “I truly feel like the two divine connections that were made were Holy Spirit inspired.”
With the support of Capital City Church in Tallahassee, Fauble officially launched Sew 2 Sow. She recruited other sewing enthusiasts and began sending T-shirt dresses and boys’ shorts overseas to Bolivia and elsewhere.
“We had a sewing program before Tina came along, but she has helped us expand it and has provided a super cute way of repurposing T-shirts,” said Sweet. “Her outfits have been hot commodities and serve as rewards for the kids for good behavior.”
Sew 2 Sow has donated sewing machines to Haven of Hope International’s partner orphanage homes in Bolivia, Peru, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. This enables both staff and children at these homes to learn a valuable skill.
In Bolivia, the Rhoda Jarvis Dream Center also houses a carpentry skills center and other vocational programs. Fauble’s sewing workshop was attended by Haven of Hope staff and some members of the Christian community in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
“All the vocational programs offered at the Rhoda Jarvis Dream Center serve several purposes,” Sweet explained. “They empower the community with vocational skills, and they are creating a workforce to take sewing and carpentry orders that will produce income for the home. For the children, it introduces them to skills that will serve their own needs as adults but also can be a trade for them to earn an income.”
“All of our dresses are sewn with a lot of love,” Fauble said. “Sure, you could buy clothes from Goodwill and donate them, but we’re putting our hearts into designing and fashioning each dress as a gift.”
Fauble’s pastor at Capital City Church accompanied her to Haven of Hope Bolivia in October. Lately, he has been teaching on Amos 9:13 — “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the sower…” — that means planting and harvesting will happen so fast, they’ll overlap.
Fauble saw this truth manifested in Bolivia. As she was giving sewing instruction to the group, the orphanage’s social worker wanted to hurry and make a dress for a new child who would be arriving that very day. The handmade dress would serve as a heartfelt welcome to the Haven of Hope family.
“I wasn’t even done teaching, and she already had the dress made, ready to give out to a new orphan just arriving at the gates,” Fauble said. “We really got to see the scripture in action.”
It was a beautiful expression of Sew 2 Sow’s heartfelt mission: “We’re sewing to sow into the lives of other people — and then we want them to sew and sow into the lives of others,” Fauble said, “and see it continue on and on.”
For more information on Sew 2 Sow, contact Tina Fauble at Sew2SowMinistries1@gmail.com
For more information on Haven of Hope International, contact Susan Dawson at susan@havenofhopeintl.org
“I am contending for you that your hearts will be wrapped in the comfort of heaven and woven together into love’s fabric. This will give you access to all the riches of Glory as you experience the revelation of God’s great mystery – Christ.” (Colossians 2:2, TPT)